Remarks After Working Dinner With Gabonese President Omar Bongo

SECRETARY POWELL: This was the first opportunity ever for an American Secretary of State to visit Gabon and I wanted to avail myself of that opportunity, especially to celebrate the new initiative we announced the other day, the Congo Basin Initiative, and to thank President Bongo and the Gabonese people for the commitment they have made to protect their ecosystem.

The decision to set aside 10 percent of your land was a bold one and I think it will be an example to other countries in the region and to the rest of the world. It also gave me the opportunity to meet with the foreign minister and the other ministers of government to discuss a number of issues, from the IMF to regional efforts that President Bongo has undertaken to bring peace and stability to different parts of Central Africa, to the bilateral relationship between the United States and Gabon, which is very strong and which I hope will grow and be even strengthened in the days and months ahead.

It was a long discussion, but not long enough. My trip here was all too short, but I promised I would return, especially to visit the constituency of my foreign minister colleague.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what is the US strategy for poverty alleviation? What can Gabon expect from the US government in order to implement assistance programs here in Gabon, apart from this new initiative on national parks?

SECRETARY POWELL: First of all, the commitment we made with respect to the Congo Basin Initiative was a significant one for the region that will involve another 53 million dollars over a period of several years. My mission was not to talk about specific aid levels, but to strengthen a relationship that is already good. We talked about some assistance that we might be able to provide the government with respect to IMF discussions and we had a very long discussion on the IMF situation and I hope to be able to help them in this regard as we move forward. But we did not talk about specific aid levels. What is needed to alleviate poverty is, of course some aid from the developed countries and the United States is one of the most generous countries in the world in that regard. What is also needed is to make sure that you create an environment in your country that will attract investment and will attract other businesses to come to the country and to invest in the country.

QUESTION: Secretary Powell, Sonya Ross from Associated Press. There was an attempt on the life of Afghan President Karzai today. Could you talk to us about that and does this indicate that the security in Afghanistan is not as good as previously thought and is this a major concern?

SECRETARY POWELL: First of all, let me say that I condemn the attempt on President Karzai’s life and on the life of the governor. I also condemn the bomb attack that took place in Kabul as well. What it says is that there is still more work to be done.

We knew that it would take a long time to get rid of these terrorist elements to defeat al-Qaeda and the Taliban and that is why we remain engaged and are supporting the ISAF in its efforts, but certainly I don’t think that anyone has claimed that the countryside or any of the cities are perfectly safe yet. What this should say to us is that there are still elements, not only in Afghanistan, but in other parts of the world, terrorist elements at loose that want to go after legitimate governments, democratic governments, and that just reinforces our commitment to pursue this campaign against terrorism wherever we find it.

Thank you and thank you for staying with us.